When planning a kitchen or laundry renovation, it’s easy to focus on colours, finishes and how everything will look, that’s the fun part! But some of the best design decisions are the small, practical ones that make the space easier to use every single day.
Here’s a quick checklist of things worth thinking about before you lock in your cabinetry, plumbing and electrical plans.
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Kitchen Checklist
✓ Sink, Dishwasher & Bin Placement
Keep these three areas close together where possible. Scrape food into the bin, rinse if needed, then load the dishwasher without carrying wet dishes across the kitchen.
✓ Enough Prep Space
Allow proper bench space between your sink and cooktop. This is often one of the most-used areas in the kitchen.
✓ Fridge Door Clearance
Check how your fridge doors actually open. Can someone access it while another person is cooking? Can the internal drawers fully open without hitting a wall or island?
✓ Plenty of Power Points
Think toaster, kettle, coffee machine, blender, mixer, air fryer, chargers and future appliances.
Consider:
Power inside appliance cupboards
Power underneath benchtops
Concealed or flush power points on kitchen islands
Charging points for phones and devices
✓ A Powered Appliance Cupboard
A dedicated appliance cupboard can keep your coffee machine, toaster and kettle plugged in and ready to use without permanently cluttering your benchtop.
✓ Pot Filler
Worth considering if you regularly cook with large pots. It saves carrying heavy pots of water from the sink to the cooktop.
✓ Drawers Instead of Lower Cupboards
Deep drawers make it easier to see and access everything inside.
✓ Vertical Storage
Use vertical dividers for chopping boards, baking trays and baking sheets instead of stacking everything on top of each other.
✓ The Right Bin Size
Integrated bins look great, but make sure they’re actually large enough for your household. Tiny designer bins become annoying very quickly.
✓ Lift-Up Overhead Cupboards
Consider overhead cabinetry that lifts upward rather than swinging outward. Electrically assisted and touch-operated mechanisms are also available.
✓ Bench Lighting
LED strips underneath overhead cupboards provide useful task lighting directly over your work surfaces.
✓ Fridge Water Line
If your fridge has chilled water or an ice maker, plan the water connection early rather than trying to retrofit it later.
Laundry Checklist
✓ Tall Storage
Include a tall cupboard for brooms, mops, ironing boards and stick vacuums.
✓ Laundry Basket Storage
Plan somewhere for bulky baskets to actually live, such as large open cubbies or pull-out hampers.
✓ Hanging & Drying Space
Consider:
Pull-down drying rails
Fold-out drying rails
A permanent hanging rail underneath overhead cabinetry
✓ Airflow Around Drying Areas
If you’re creating an indoor drying zone, think about airflow, heating and moisture extraction during the design stage.
Have this properly planned with your electrical professionals rather than hanging wet clothing directly over heating appliances.
✓ Pull-Out Bench Space
If space is tight, a pull-out bench can provide extra room for sorting and folding laundry without permanently taking up floor space.
✓ Pull-Out Spray Mixer
A pull-out mixer makes rinsing clothes, cleaning the sink and washing larger items much easier.
✓ Washer & Dryer Door Direction
Check which way each appliance door opens.
Can you easily transfer clothing from the washing machine to the dryer, or will the doors constantly get in each other’s way?
Plan for Real Life
Before finalising your design, mentally walk through how you’ll actually use the room.
Where will dirty dishes go? Where will you prepare food? Where will appliances stay plugged in? Where will laundry baskets live? Where will wet clothes hang?
The little decisions often make the biggest difference.
A beautiful kitchen or laundry is great. A beautiful one that actually works properly is considerably better!
If you would like professional advice on layouts of wet areas, we invite you to book a design consultation at one of Eos Bathware’s showrooms in either Moorabbin or Mornington where we can help with layout advice, colours and finishes, and overall make the renovation journey a lot more enjoyable. Our Design Consultations are completely free as well.
